Author: Lois Lowry
Title: The Giver
Illustrator:
Publisher: Bantam Books
Year: 1993
Genre: Newberry winner
Format: eBook
Reading Level: Independent
Interest level: Middle school, high school
Topics: utopia, boy, family, happiness, painless, emotion,
Summary: A 12 year old boy, Jonas, is different from everyone else in the society he lives in. He can see flashes of color and his eyes are pale. When he is old enough he is given the important and honorable job of memory keeper. In the society he comes from there are no past memories so that everyone may live in happiness and without pain and war. However, someone needs to hold on to past memories so they are known not to be repeated. Jonas is to given all the past memories by the current holder, he asks to be called the Giver. The Giver first Jonas a memory of sledding down a hill and the joy that is felt when doing so. As he is given these memories, Jonas is awakened to all of the pain that people aren't experiencing because they have nothing bad to compare the good to and therefore have no measure of the quality and richness of the lives they lead. Jonas wants to awaken the people of his community to this so he and the Giver devise a plan. Meanwhile, Jonas' learns that the problem child his family is taking care of, Gabriel, will soon be "released," killed, if he does not improve. Jonas begins to share some of the warm, happy memories with Gabriel to calm and sooth him. When Jonas finds out that Gabriel will be released the next day he takes his father's bike and he and Gabriel escape to Elsewhere where they experience color and animals but also hunger and danger. In the end Jonas and Gabriel find a sled on top of a hill and go down on it. At the bottom of the hill they see lights and hear people singing with music and they believe they have made it to Elsewhere.
Extension Activity: Discuss what a Utopian society is and the pros and cons of it. What kind of negativity does Jonas, the main character, experience? What is the opposite of a utopian society? Why is it that society is best when its a mix of the two? What does a society lose when there is "sameness"?
